TrekInk: Review of Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5

The history of the Emperor’s rise to power and the secret of his mastery of time is revealed. It’s time to see if our Starfleet and Legion heroes can dance, in the penultimate issue of Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes from IDW Publishing. Spoilers after the break.

Trapped in the present, in the heart of the Imperial palace and imprisoned in the past, in a wood and stone village, Starfleet officers and Legionnaires look for a way out of their predicament while they recap the history of the immortal known as Flint and Vandal Savage. No one understands how this version of the immortal became the undying lord and ruler of the Imperial Planets. In the present, the Emperor informs his time traveling captives that their intelligence on how history might have transpired will help prevent the mistakes made on other Earths. In the past, the source of the Emperor’s control over time is also a prisoner; and he’s peeved.

Kirk eyes a familiar feline serving the Emperor!

There is more to Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5 than I can cover in a brief review. Put simply, creators Chris Roberson, Jeffrey and Philip Moy, go to town in this issue. I even think the folks who don’t like this crossover concept would be amused if they took the time to read the comic book. While Roberson is busy embellishing the histories of Flint and Vandal Savage in their respective timelines, playing with Kirk’s reputation as a womanizer, and preparing us for a cliffhanger, the Moy brothers are equally busy bringing Roberson’s story to life in the past and present, and with creating amusing cameos such as M’Ress appearing as a servant in the Imperial palace. At one point, the Emperor informs his captive guests that they aren’t the first time travelers he’s captured and we see some very familiar devices gathering dust in a large hall. The notion is entertaining and horrifying at the same time. Trekkies and Legion fans will probably find many more interesting details than I’m able to recognize. Once again, colorist Romulo Fajardo, Jr. and letterer Chris Mowry ably complement their collaborators. Congratulations to everyone involved for a fine job. One more issue to go.

The Imperial Used Time Travel Lot. Trade-ins welcome!

There are three covers for Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5. Cover A by Phil Jimenez, with colors by Romulo Fajardo, Jr., features Kirk with his biggest phaser and a flock of Legion beauties. The image has nothing to do with the story, but is an instant classic. Cover B by Mike Allred with colors by Laura Allred is a little more sedate and modest. The retailer incentive cover is another Star Trek/Legion pairing featuring Sulu and a doppelgänger Chameleon Boy by Mario Alberti, with background art by Gabriel Rodriguez. Click on the covers for larger images.

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5 is at your local comic shop on Wednesday, February 15th. The final issue of the mini-series is scheduled for publication March 21. A hardcover collection will be published July 2012 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon if you are so inclined. IDW Star Trek comics can also be purchased online at TFAW.

@3. I’m not a comics reader (but make an exception for Ongoing). I’d seen Legion of Super-Heroes and thought it aimed more toward kids; guess I’d have hoped for more maturity… I don’t know, maybe a little evolution?:) and a modicum of respect for the adult male comic reader (if not for women)… Yeah, I get it; is what it is, but that’s not saying much for it.

Loving the new grey uniform Kirk’s wearing in that preview image next to the Caitan (feline woman)! A natural evolution…shades of the Archer-era uniform and also foreshadowing in ways the TMP era uniforms amongst other future elements

7. Hat Rick – February 14, 2012
Every Trek comic ever published lies within my domain, backer-board and bagged including the godawful Gold Keys from the TOS run in the 1960s. This is a worthy addition to my collection much akin to the X-Men/ Next Gen crossover. Even if you have never followed the DC Universe Legion of Superheroes, you would be able to follow the story.
Making Flint and Vandal Savage of the DCU the same person was an inspired touch since Savage’s history already parallel’s Flint’s pretty closely.
Bravo IDC.

I’m sort of beyond worrying about that kind of thing. JJ is doing the right thing by making Trek more accessible without alienating too much of the fanbase (of which I have been one virtually all my life, and I remember watching the Moon landings (incidentially, sigh, can’t we get it together, NASA? again with the stupid funding issues? President Obama, why cut the Mars program? but that’s another gripe.) Star Trek is already so much part of our culture that it’s like a perennial — it blooms again and again.

I don’t know that anyone in the non-nerdy/geeky/fanbase audience at large even knows about this crossover.

Trek, I believe, is far too strong to “suffer” (if “suffer” is the right word, whcih I sorta doubt) from this association. Besides, I don’t mind the association of Trek with Legion of Super Heroes or Doctor Who, and I know less about the Legion than I do of Doctor Who (or of the atomic weight or principal properties of cesiium, for that matter).

#12 Chris — “If you ever wanted to make trekkies look like the kind of uber geeks that normal people would do well to steer clear from then this is it. This kind of thing truly brands the star trek fan base in the worse possible way.”

Seriously? You think anyone is going to think Trekkies are geekier because this comic book was published?! Do you really think anyone besides Trekkies and comic geeks even know these comics exist?

I can just hear it now, echoing in the halls of mainstream America: “Did you see what those Trekkies are reading now? I thought they were SO cool, but now that there’s a comic book with superheroes and Star Trek characters, I don’t know…maybe they’re geeks.”

Seriously, dude, relax. If you don’t like the idea, avoid the comics, but spare us the oh-noes-it’s-the-end-of-Trekkiedom histrionics in reaction to a comic book.

Your overreaction makes us look sillier than any comic book ever could.

#18 – Well said. The amount of pearl-clutching and couch-fainting over a frakkin’ comic book is simply amazing to behold. When it comes right down to it, “Star Trek” has been, is, and always will be one thing, and one thing alone: entertainment. Based on that, a comic book series (which, again, is entertainment) that crosses “Star Trek” with “X” (where “X” is Legion of Super Heroes, “Doctor Who”, “Star Wars”, or whatever) is one thing, and one thing only: entertainment.

Those who take Trek fandom so seriously as to go into histrionics over a comic book have forgotten that basic fact, and like you said, THEY are truly the ones who make us look more ridiculous than anything else could possibly do. If a comic book crossover between “Star Trek” and a bunch of costumed super heroes isn’t your thing, fine, no sweat, but you could at least have the decency to keep your big mouths shut and not piss in the cornflakes of the people who do enjoy it.

I remember when DC had the rights to Star Trek. I really wanted Trek to crossover with the rest of the DC line in Crisis on Infinite Earths. At the time, Kirk and company had taken the Excelsior into the Mirror Universe. Maybe the Anti-Monitor would have wanted the technology?

Thanks, Theryon (#15, 16)! I was trying to figure out some of the not-so-obvious ones. It was a pleasant surprise to see all those time machines were tied in to the time story. And then it was perfect who wound up being in the last panel. And as Tanner (#4) indicated, the issue got off to the right start right from the cover with the typical expectation for a Kirk scene.